Coal built Streator. Mining here lasted from 1866 until 1958, and it shaped who lived in town, how they worked and how they organized. This page goes deeper than the summary on our History of Streator page.
Coal Beneath the Prairie
Around Streator, coal seams lay close to the surface. In the mid-1800s Chicago’s growth sent demand for coal climbing, and Eastern capitalists were looking for places to invest. In 1866 Ohio investors led by Worthy S. Streator formed the Vermilion Coal Company and sent Colonel Ralph Plumb to open the mines.
Recruiting a Workforce
Plumb had coal but not enough miners. The company could not afford European employment agents, so it alerted steamship offices to the jobs and persuaded railroads to carry notices about Streator’s prospects. Historians describe the town’s rise as the meeting of three forces: Chicago’s need for coal, European immigrants’ desire to come to America, and Eastern money looking for a return. Immigrants arrived from across Europe, and by the 1880s Slovak families were among them, an important chapter told on our St. Stephen’s Church page.
Rails Make the Mines Pay
Railroads made the mines profitable. The Fox River line came first. In 1870 the Chicago and Alton began its Dwight Division, and the Chicago, Pekin and Southwestern and the Chicago and Paducah lines followed. With that many outlets, Streator coal could reach markets cheaply, and by 1877 the Vermilion Coal Company employed about 1,200 miners. Our railroads page covers that network.
Life in a Mining Town
Mining was dangerous, but it gave many families a foothold. An 1884 survey by the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 20 percent of Streator’s miners owned their homes. Labor organizations, including the Miners’ National Association and later the United Mine Workers of America, grew strong here, along with ethnic churches and fraternal groups such as the Masons and Knights of Pythias.
Other coal companies worked the field too. The Chicago, Wilmington and Vermilion Coal Company employed R. D. Fletcher, whose 1890 stick-style house still stands (see our historic homes page).
Clay, Brick and Tile
The same ground that held coal also held rich clay and shale. These gave rise to Streator’s brick, drain tile and sewer pipe industries, and building brick, paving brick and drain tile stayed on lists of local products long after the mines faded.
Decline and the Last Mine
Coal production in LaSalle County and Illinois peaked in the 1910s. After that, Streator’s high-sulfur coal lost ground to oil and gas and to the low-sulfur coal of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Many of Streator’s underground mines closed during the 1920s, and the last one shut down in 1958. By then glass had become the town’s main employer (see our glass industry history).
Remembering the Miners
Little of the mines can be seen today, but the miners are not forgotten. In 2025 a corten steel coal miner silhouette was installed at 109 E. Elm Street as part of Streator’s public art program. The churches, union traditions and family names the mines brought here are a more lasting memorial.
Related Streator History
- Streator History Overview
- Hardscrabble to Streator: The Early Settlement Years
- St. Stephen's Church: America's First Slovak Catholic Parish
- Reuben G. Soderstrom: Streator's Champion of Illinois Labor
Sources
- Streator, Illinois – Wikipedia (Coal and cityhood; Economy). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streator,_Illinois
- John H. M. Laslett, Colliers Across the Sea (University of Illinois Press, 2000), as cited in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streator,_Illinois
- Worthy S. Streator – Wikipedia (Vermilion Coal Company). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worthy_S._Streator
- Ruffin Drew Fletcher House – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffin_Drew_Fletcher_House
- Streator Public Art – Coal Miner Silhouette. https://www.streatorpublicart.com/art
